WEP Holds Second Training Series on Labor Relations

The Workers and Employees Program (WEP) of the University of the Philippines College of Law/Law Center held its Second Training Series on Labor Relations in the Private Sector on Saturday mornings from 13-27 May 2023 and 10-24 June 2023. The series wrapped up with a whole day session on Collective Bargaining with Role Playing / Simulation Exercise, held on 15 July 2023 at the 2nd Floor, Conference Room, Bocobo Hall, UP Law Complex, Diliman, Quezon City.

The Labor Relations series marked the WEP’s follow-up to the First Training Series on Workers’ and Employees’ Rights and Benefits Under Labor Standards Laws in September-October 2022.

As WEP Program Director Professor Patricia R.P. Salvador-Daway explained, “(T)he Second WEP Training Series will focus on labor relations law, which provides for the mechanism by which workers and employees, through their representatives, negotiate, adjust, and enforce labor standards. In a manner of speaking, the law provides the means, the procedure, and the rules by which workers and employees are able to settle and resolve the issues, difficulties, and grievances that they may have against the employer. Indeed, there is an inherent inequality between labor and capital, and left on their own, workers and employees may not stand a chance in any contest with the employer who owns the means of production, and is therefore in a position to dictate the terms and conditions of employment. It is our hope in WEP that the series of workers and employees’ trainings will contribute to empowering and enlightening them and their organizations, for it is in knowing and being aware of their rights and benefits as embodied and guaranteed in the Constitution and as provided in detail in our Labor Code and its implementing rules and regulations that the full potentials of workers and employees can be realized in a just and humane society.”

A total of fifty (50) workers and employees from labor organizations, associations, and unions, unaffiliated workers and employees, human resource practitioners, paralegals, students, and others took part.

Lectures were given by officials of agencies of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE): the Bureau of Labor Relations (BLR), the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC), and the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB).

Covered topics were discussed by the following resource persons:

13 May 2023: Why Join a Labor Organization

Constitutional Rights On Labor Relations
Policy
Who Can Join
Aliens
Addressing Misconceptions On Membership
Rights And Conditions Of Membership

Resource Person: Atty. Joharic Maligaya, Mediator-Arbiter, BLR

20 May 2023: Labor Organization Formation And Operations

Registration And Cancellation Of Labor Organizations
Rights Of Legitimate Labor Organizations
Duties Of Officers Of Labor Organizations
Assistance To Labor Organizations

Resource Person: Atty. Joharic Maligaya, Mediator-Arbiter, BLR

27 May 2023: How To Be Recognized For Collective Bargaining

SEBA Certification, Certification Election, Bars To Certification Elections
Department Order No. 238-23: Rules On The Administration And Enforcement Of Labor Standards Pursuant To Article 128 Of The Labor Code Of The Philippines, As Renumbered, And Republic Act No. 11058

Resource Person: Atty. Joharic Maligaya, Mediator-Arbiter, BLR

10 June 2023: Unfair Labor Practices (ULP)

Concept; Who Are Liable
ULP Of Employers
ULP Of Labor Organizations
Penalties
How To File

Resource Person: Hon. Commissioner Alejandro Cecilio C. Villanueva, NLRC

17 June 2023: Strikes And Lockouts

Grounds
Requirements
Permitted Acts and Prohibited Acts
Assumption of Jurisdiction
Return to Work
Grounds for Termination of Employment of Striking Workers (Union Officers versus Union Members) and Due Process Rights

Resource Person: Mr. Ericson L. Igual, Chief Conciliator-Mediator, NCMB

24 June 2023: Filing Complaints And Jurisdiction

Where to File Cases
How to File
Where to Appeal
How to Appeal

Resource Persons:

Hon. Labor Arbiter Michael Anthony N. Clemente, NLRC
Atty. Ronda T. Doctor-Malimban, Director II, NCMB

15 July 2023: Collective Bargaining, including Grievance Machinery and Voluntary Arbitration, with Role-Playing

Procedure
Multi-Employer Bargaining
CBA Registration
Duration
Gender Provisions
Grievance Machinery
Voluntary Arbitration
Negotiation Strategies
Role Playing

Resource Persons:

Atty. Kim Marie M. Roque-Aquino, OIC-Director, Technical Services & Chief, Voluntary Arbitration Division, NCMB
Mr. Ericson L. Igual, Chief Conciliator-Mediator, NCMB

WEP Program Director Prof. Patricia R.P. Salvador-Daway underscored the importance of the training at the beginning of every session, explaining that labor standards are the rights of workers which they can claim as a matter of legal right and to which the employers are mandated as a matter of legal obligation to comply with.

WEP is now conducting its online Third Training Series on Termination of Employment in the Private Sector, every Saturday, starting 5 August to 2 September 2023. For more information and to register, please visit http://uplaw.ph/weptermination